Local police and troopers battled elsewhere

Disputes over law enforcement jurisdiction aren't unique to Sutton. Several other communities around the state have had less-than-smooth relationships between local and state police.

Foxboro was the hotbed of a turf dispute over Interstate-95, Route 140 and Route 1, home to the current Gillette Stadium, in the late 1990s and 2000s.

Foxboro Police Chief Edward O'Leary declined to comment about the incidents, but news reports from March 1996 describe a heated argument between a handful of state and local police that occurred outside the police station.

Similar to Sutton's experience in May, when state police came off the highway to do routine traffic enforcement in the center of town, troopers converged on Foxboro's local streets to do the same, prompting the argument.

In an Associated Press article, State Police Lt. Martin Fay was quoted: "There's no law that says they can't handle calls on I-95, nor is there any law that we can't handle calls on the back streets."

Foxboro passed a bylaw in 2007 that authorized Foxboro's police chief to require police details anywhere in town to prevent traffic and pedestrian problems.

The State Police Association of Massachusetts sued Attorney General Martha Coakley's approval of the bylaw, naming the town as co-defendant. They claimed that the bylaw intruded on state police jurisdiction.

In 2008, a Suffolk Superior Court judge dismissed SPAM's lawsuit.

The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro reported that the court agreed with Foxboro town counsel's argument that state laws governing police jurisdiction were established "to protect the public's health, safety and welfare," and not to "create or protect private claims by employees of entitlement to wage-earning opportunities."

In Worcester County, issues have arisen, outside of Sutton, on availability of state police.

Douglas Police Chief Patrick T. Foley hasn't had turf battles, but he's occasionally had problems getting state police support to manage the crowds at Wallum Lake Recreation Area in Douglas State Forest, a state-run park on the Rhode Island and Connecticut borders.

The town police usually get the first call for aid but often have to call the Millbury state police barracks for assistance because of the scope and remote location of the park.

Problems range from unruly crowds waiting to get into the parking lot when it's closed due to capacity, to water accidents such as the near-drowning of a toddler last weekend, which occurred when the park was covered only by a detail officer from Northbridge.

"They've been good, but we're at their mercy," Chief Foley said of the state police. "A lot of times we'll get a call back saying they have nobody available."

Northboro Police Chief Mark K. Leahy, past president of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, also has not had run-ins with state police on the state roads that run through his town. But that may be because he rarely sees them.

"We literally never see them," Chief Leahy said. "If we do, they're probably just going through town on their way to Westboro District Court. We're often the first ones on the scene at 290 because they don't have anyone in the area."

Chief Leahy said that state police seem to "cherry-pick" the roads they're going to patrol. "Route 9 from Worcester to Framingham, they're just nonexistent. From the Framingham barracks eastů they will very quickly tell you Route 9 is their route."

The turf wars seem ridiculous, according to Chief Leahy. He said, "There's a paranoia that we're going to put them out of business."